Courage

What is courage?

Courage is a mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty and the ability to do something difficult even when there is risk, with determination and resilience. As a professional or entrepreneurs, courage is the momentum, force that propels a person forward and achieve more.

Courage allows a person to go beyond their comfort zone where growth happens, navigate uncertainty and take calculated risks, create new opportunities for success.

Why courage is a critical leadership competency?

 Leaders often must make tough decisions, take risks, and navigate through uncertain and complex situations. A leader who is confident and decisive can inspire and motivate their team to take on challenges and pursue ambitious goals, which is critical for achieving success in today's fast-paced and competitive business environment. A leader needs courage to enable innovation to thrive and build a high performing team.

How do you build courage muscle? Here are a few ways I have used.

 1) Be Positive, focus on what you can control.

Positive thinking practice can help to eliminate wasting energy to dwell on problems that you cannot solve, situation that is out of your control, rather, keep focus on things that within your control to improve and be better of, for example, to take an online course to build up knowledge on a topic that you are not yet familiar with.

2) Believe in yourself.

Trust your development over the years that you are capable and have abilities to face challenges, believe that you can succeed by expanding your horizon and try new ways of solving a problem or pursue a new idea.

3) Evaluate risks and know your bottom line on ethics, legality, safety.

Taking calculated risks requires research and support of your network of resources, clarity of your own acceptable level of ethics, understand legal implications and safety for yourselves and others.

4) Continuous learning mindset, not to fear failure.

No one has all the knowledge, and it’s critical that we continue to learn in order to grow as a person and as professional. To learn, one must overcome the fear of failure, knowing that growth comes through failing forward and learn from mistakes.

5) Act, don’t wait for perfection.

Perfectionism can be the hurdle to achieve any goal. If a person waits to get everything 100% before taking any action, the opportunity would have passed. It is important to act without perfection, continue to improve as you go.  

Conclusion

Courage is a critical leadership competency that enables leaders to make tough decisions, take risks, and navigate through uncertain and complex situations. To strengthen your courage competency, it is essential to develop a growth mindset and embrace challenges and failures as opportunities for learning and growth. It is also important to cultivate a sense of purpose and meaning in your work. This can provide the motivation and drive necessary to overcome obstacles and pursue ambitious goals.

Coaching can be particularly effective in helping individuals to build their courage competency because it provides a safe and supportive environment for exploration and growth. A coach can help you to identify your limiting beliefs and fears, challenge them, and develop strategies for overcoming them. They can also help you to build your confidence and develop your resilience, which are critical components of courage. A professional coach can support you to build your courage and confidence and achieve your full potential as a leader.